We’re flying through December, and we’re counting down the days ’til Christmas, Hanukkah, and festivus for the restofus! But before we get too caught up in our barbecues by the beach and negotiating family drama, we wanted to add a bit of Christmas Spice to our new year preparations…

So here you have it – Spicy’s 12 Days of Biz-mas!

On the first day of Biz-mas my true love gave to me:

…a culture that customers love.

Have you heard the saying “culture eats strategy for breakfast”? To me this means that no matter how well planned your business strategy is, if your team who executes it is disgruntled, disorganised, or dissing each other, chances are the customer happiness is not going to be able to reap the benefits from those great strategy ideas.

At Spicy, what we have found is that good company culture starts with a “bottom up” leadership style. When employees feel valued, heard, and empowered to make decisions, customers also get those juicy good vibes!

On the second day of Biz-mas my true love gave to me:

2 Future Plans, and a culture that customers love.

Reviewing your business plan is something that often falls to the bottom of the to-do list. So, what better excuse to revisit your business plan than to bring in a brand new year? Not only should you be checking over your 90 day plan, it’s a good idea to take a look at your marketing plans too. Start with your vision and your goal, and focus on 1 main action item per quarter.

To download a free 90-day SOAP (strategy on a page), courtesy of Basic Bananas, go here!

On the third day of Biz-mas my true love gave to me:

4 Self-Care Days

For a lot of business owners, the mentality is that there’s clearly way too much to do to go for that extra surf, to take off an hour or an afternoon – or god forbid a whole day — to do something just for you.

But does this ever happen to you? As soon as you get in your car and drive away from work you remember something important? Or while you’re in the shower in the morning you have a brilliant idea? That’s because of a little phenomenon called SPACE. We’re big believers in the mindfulness movement, and taking just 10 minutes to clear your mind can make a huge difference to your energy levels, clarity, and prioritisation.

When you give yourself permission to turn off your work email notifications (or just put your devices on silent!) and schedule some time just for you, you might be surprised with the inspiration that strikes.

On the third day of Biz-mas my true love gave to me:

5 Goal Setting

Alright, I know you can’t have 5 of ‘goal setting’, but it rhymes with golden rings! It also means that you can come up with as many or as few goals as you feel is appropriate. Taking time to reassess your goals, both personal and professional, will give you the motivation you need to kick start a successful new year – as long as you keep your goals realistic.

**TOP TIP ALERT: To check you have your goals in check with what your peeps actually want, go to Google Trends. And if you’re in Australia select the Australia dropdown in the top right for geo-specific answers.

6 People Thanking

Want to maintain your professional network in 2019? Make sure you nurture your relationships with the attitude of gratitude. Fancy corporate gifts are great but personally thanking your top 10 clients is a great place to start in cementing your “A+” customers and making your tribe loyal and open with communicating with you.

7 Chatbots Chatting

Bots are taking over the world!!! …not really, but they’re taking over customer service on social media, and in a lot of cases they are doing a pretty good job. If you’ve never heard the word ‘Chatbot’ before, you can read our blog post all about them, and pretend you knew all along. Basically, Chatbots are a way to send instant automated responses to customer enquiries over social media, and help address customer concerns while you’re out of office during the holiday period. Not only does this take some weight off of your workload, but getting an immediate response is useful for your customers as well. Need help setting one up? Send us a message (or alternatively, chat to our Chatbot on Facebook).

8 Brands Reviewing

Today is the perfect day to review your brand. Doing a competitor analysis is a good place to start, but BE AWARE! As Simon Sinek says:

Our best competitors reveal our weaknesses. The goal is not to “beat” our competition but to improve ourselves.

So, doing a brand strategy review is not an exercise in beating your enemies – it’s about thinking about real problem-solving and what your customer wants and needs. Getting real customer insights and using creative copywriting in their own language is the best way to connect with your audience. Example: “Marine Layer” make their products likeable, show their ethos, and are professional while showing personality and quirkiness that gives even more reason to buy their stuff.

9 Sales a-Driving

You want to know what else holiday periods are good for, besides drinking all the egg nog? Sales! Promotions! Yay!

Around Christmas, or any holiday, it’s a great opportunity to leverage some interest by creating events, doing promotions, and making your business even more remarkable. Get people talking about your business and they will do the sales for you.

11 TedTalks Watching

Education doesn’t have to involve going to boring classes, long expensive seminars, or online courses that eat into your precious Instagram stalking time. Researching your industry and learning about new developments are great ways to help you stay on top of your job, and keep your competitive edge. Taking time to educate yourself on subjects that you’re personally interested in is also a valuable tool for your self-growth. There are millions of educational resources available (for FREE!) on the internet, where you can learn anything from how to build a lasting business, to why this Peruvian caterpillar looks like Donald Trump.

The resemblance is uncanny…

12 Sites Updating

Have you ever searched for a business online, only to find that they haven’t updated their website since they made it back in 2005? Annoying, right? Don’t be that guy!

We’ve mentioned this previously, but because it’s so important, we’re going to say it again: It’s essential that your customers can rely on your website for the most recent and relevant information. Isn’t that why you have a website in the first place?

Did you read through the checklist, and decide you need some help getting your business sorted in 2019? Spicy Broccoli has got you covered – get in touch with us on our Contact Page, send us an email at info@spicybroccoli.com, or give us a call on +61 2 8084 5554!